Laurent Robert is facing a race against time to be ready for Newcastle's trip to West Ham on Sunday after an illness forced United's &#xA3;9.5m man to miss a full week of training.

The Frenchman, who played a starring role in last weekend's 4-3 defeat of Manchester United at St James's Park, was sent home by Magpies' boss Bobby Robson on Monday morning after reporting for training suffering from a bad cold and sore throat.

And, although Robert has spent the remainder of the week trying to recover, Robson is still waiting for a verdict from United's medical team on whether his summer signing will have to remain on Tyneside when his team-mates make the trip to Upton Park.

With the Premiership encounter not until Sunday, Robert is hoping that the extra 24 hours will be enough for him to prove his fitness to Robson - whose side will be without Aaron Hughes against the Hammers.

"I went to training on Monday, but I was sent immediately to see the doctor and told to go and rest," the former Paris-Saint Germain winger said last night.

"On Tuesday, I tried to train, but it was no good. I couldn't do anything with the ball and I was exhausted and had no energy at all.

"We had a training session on Wednesday without the ball and I felt a little bit better because I was on antibiotics, but still, I felt very weak and not right.

"With the game being on Sunday, I am hoping the symptoms will have gone away and I think I still have a chance of playing a part at West Ham."

The United players had a rest day yesterday, with training due to resume this morning. And manager Robson is set to decide today whether to start planning for Sunday without the wide-man.

Having hit two goals in his last two Premiership games, Robert is Newcastle's form player, finally solving United's long-standing problem on the left.

And, with Wayne Quinn - a likely replacement for Robert - sidelined for three weeks with groin and hamstring problems, Robson will have a major headache should he be forced to leave the Frenchman in the North-East.

Robert played against the Premiership champions despite not feeling well. But the Magpies will take no chances this weekend should he get no better.

"I woke up feeling ill last Saturday morning," he revealed. "But when you have the chance of playing against a team like Manchester United, you don't want to miss out."

Whether he plays or not, Robert is anticipating a tough test at Upton Park. And he has warned his team-mates to take no notice of West Ham's position at the bottom of the Premiership table.

"They are currently at the bottom but we shouldn't read too much into the league table," added Robert, who has been an ever-present in the Premiership since joining Newcastle in the summer.

"Because they are struggling and we are unbeaten, I am sure that West Ham will be determined to cause an upset on Sunday.

"Our objective is to bring at least a point back to Newcastle. Of course we are going to try to win all three points, but we know it won't be easy."

Like Quinn, Hughes is facing a break of three weeks after a scan showed the Northern Ireland defender has torn a hamstring. Andy O'Brien is set to deputise at the weekend.

New signing Sylvain Distin, who got his first taste of action for United's reserves at Middlesbrough on Wednesday night, looks likely to be on the bench again at Upton Park. * Nottingham Forest manager Paul Hart was determined to keep his players' feet on the ground after last night's thrilling 1-0 win over Bradford City at the City Ground.

Forest have now taken six points in 72 hours from two home games after beating Rotherham 2-0 on Monday.

But Hart said: "We might be moving in the right direction, but we've achieved nothing yet - we still have so much to learn.

"We're a young side who are making progress all the time, and I'm thrilled for them that we've had such a good week.

"To be honest I've got a great bunch of players and even the ones who are not in the team at the moment are making a contribution.

"They are bursting to get in the first team, and that itself is the sign that things are healthy."

Hart also revealed that teenage match-winner Jermaine Jenas almost missed the game with a thigh injury.

He added: "He was doubtful but said he wanted to play. I told him he could but that he was due to get me a goal."

Bradford boss Jim Jefferies reflected on two impressive away days that yielded only one point.

Defeat at Forest followed a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Monday, and Jefferies argued: "We've played well in both games. It's tough when you know you've played some good football and picked up only one point out of six - but that's football.

"It was always going to take a stroke of luck or genius to decide a game like this and the Forest youngster got a ricochet - but to be fair to him he made the most of it.

"On another day I think we would have made more of the chances we created and Ashley Ward would, I'm sure, have got himself a goal had he not missed recent games with injury."